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For now, Synder adding long-snapper to defensive responsibilities

PISCATAWAY – When Kevin Snyder was a grade-schooler growing up playing football in Mechanicsburg, Pa., the Rutgers senior middle linebacker’s father got him to practice his long-snapping.

A niche position on the football field, long-snapping is not a craft you see a lot of young kids honing, but there was a method to his father’s madness.

“He said, ‘If you want to get on the field early in high school, you might want to try doing that,'” Snyder said after Rutgers finished up its first spring practice on Tuesday afternoon.

The fact that Snyder is capable of long-snapping is a benefit to Rutgers, at least for now. When the spring depth chart was released on Monday afternoon, the 6-foot-3, 235-pound Snyder was listed as the first-team long-snapper after Robert Jones held the position for the last four seasons.

Snyder is moving from weakside linebacker to middle linebacker this spring, so picking up long-snapping duties from now through the Rutgers Spring Game on April 26 is only going to add to an already busy month.

“It’s tough when you’re trying to focus on your regular defensive stuff, but we focus on a lot of special teams anyway, so I might as well do it,” Snyder said.

Long-term, whether or not Snyder continues as the first-team long-snapper beyond the spring will depend on Alan Lucy.

Lucy, a 6-foot-1, 230-pounder out of Dinwiddle (Va.) High School, will arrive in Piscataway this summer as the rare scholarship long-snapper. Theoretically, the long-snapping job should be his when the Scarlet Knights open the 2014 season on Aug. 28 in Seattle against Washington St.

If Lucy is not deemed ready to take on the responsibility, Snyder doesn’t mind adding that to his plate again.

“I know I’m doing it now and when he shows up, we’re gonna see how prepared he is to do it,” Snyder said. “If he’s ready, he’s ready. If not, then I’ll still be able to do it.”

About Josh Newman

Josh Newman has worked for the Press since September 2004 and began covering Shore Conference sports full time in September 2006. He is a 2004 graduate of Springfield College with a degree in communications/sports journalism.

There are several reasons to be optimistic Last season, just over half of the team’s scoring and three of the top four scorer’s on the roster resided in the backcourt. Corey Sanders led the way with 12.8 points per game, followed by Nigel Johnson with 11.3 points per game, while Mike Williams added 9.4 points […]